Falcon 9

The 2024-04-27 mission broke a streak of 146 Falcon 9 launches with a booster landing that dated back to 2022-11-01, when SpaceX conducted back-to-back Falcon 9 launches carrying geostationary satellites with expended boosters.

The 2024-04-27 launch was the 200th Falcon 9 mission to use previously flown payload fairings.

A Falcon 9 was originally scheduled to launch from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base on Wednesday, 2024-04-17 at 11:30 AM PDT (18:30 UTC) carrying two satellites with a combined mass of 1,500 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit.

Another pair of Galileo satellites will launch on a Falcon 9 later in 2024, alongside separate Falcon 9 launches of ESA’s EarthCARE Earth science mission and Hera asteroid mission.

The 2024-04-27 mission was the second European institutional mission to fly on a Falcon 9 following ESA’s Euclid space telescope launch in 2023-07-01.

In November 2023 the European Commission was finalizing a deal with SpaceX for two Falcon 9 launches, each carrying two Galileo satellites scheduled for 2024, under a contract valued at 180,000,000 EUR.

Falcon 9 launched 23 Starlink small satellites to low-Earth orbit on Sunday, 2024-04-28 at 6:08 p.m. ET from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

A Falcon 9 lifted off from Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A at 8:34 p.m. Eastern on 2024-04-27 carrying the Galileo GM25 and FM27 satellites.

Falcon 9 booster B1060 previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 13 Starlink missions.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 launched the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida on 2024-04-27 at 8:34 p.m. ET.

SpaceX did not plan to recover Falcon 9 booster B1060 on the Galileo L12 mission due to the additional performance requirement to deliver the payload to medium Earth orbit.

The last time a Falcon 9 first stage was expended prior to the Galileo L12 mission occurred 146 flights earlier in November 2022.

The Falcon 9 first stage booster previously launched GPS III-3, Turksat 5A, Transporter-2, Intelsat G-33/G-34, Transporter-6, Intuitive Machines IM-1, and 13 Starlink missions.

SpaceX is targeting Saturday, 2024-04-27 at 8:34 p.m. ET for a Falcon 9 launch of the European Commission’s Galileo L12 mission to medium Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is set to launch a batch of Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 for the Starlink mega-constellation.

SpaceX is targeting Tuesday, 2024-04-23 for a Falcon 9 launch of 23 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

The first nine Apogeo Space test satellites launched in November 2023 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and were released by D-Orbit’s Orbital Transfer Vehicle.

Ray will launch on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 as part of the Transporter-12 rideshare mission no earlier than October 2024.